Matt Clayton

When you're born in Perth, reside in Monaco and sport a permanent suntan from chasing summer around the world for your chosen profession, Daniel Ricciardo typically has little time for rain. But on Friday at the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park, the Red Bull racer welcomed it. Anything that upsets the established order in F1? Bring it on.

Driving a car that is some way off challenging the Mercedes/Ferrari duopoly at the front of the F1 field, Ricciardo and Red Bull shone through the Melbourne gloom on a sodden first day of the 2016 season on Friday, the 26-year-old finishing the day in fourth place, 0.694 seconds off the top time of 1min 38.841secs recorded by reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes).

Earlier on Friday, Ricciardo finished third in the season's first 90-minute practice session, which was also topped by Hamilton.

"It was nice just to get in the car and drive it," Ricciardo said.

"We didn't get a whole lot of laps, but I think the laps we did, I was pretty comfortable just getting up to speed with everything.

"The track was wet, dry, slick, greasy, then dry, more wet … it changed a lot. Today was the definition of Melbourne – four seasons in one day, everyone says – and we got that today. We did get enough running to feel all conditions and if it rains, if it is variable throughout the weekend now, then we're prepared for that."

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When you have the most complete car in the field, as Red Bull did for much of its four-year stampede to the top of F1 from 2010-13, inclement weather was low on its wish list. But since 2014, when the sport changed to V6 turbo hybrid powerplants and became a formula where the pecking order is determined more by engines than aerodynamics, Mercedes' dominance – two straight drivers' and constructors' titles and 32 wins in the past 38 Grands Prix – has meant Red Bull has become a high-profile bit-part player, reduced to sweeping up the crumbs on the rare days the Silver Arrows drop the ball. Anything that upsets the established order, rain included, is a bonus for the rest, Red Bull included.

"We've got less to lose," Ricciardo agreed.

"Today with the conditions like that and going into an interesting qualifying format tomorrow, it's an opportunity for us. Maybe we can sneak up a couple of rows further up than what we could in dry conditions."

Stymied by a Renault engine that was both underpowered and unreliable, Ricciardo struggled to replicate his breakthrough season of 2014 last year, podiums in Hungary and Singapore reward for his talent shining through on circuits where horsepower isn't king. The semi-permanent street circuit at Albert Park features just one straight of note, and when Melbourne's typically capricious weather plays a part, it was little wonder Ricciardo stood out on Friday.

Somewhat forgotten in Ricciardo's standout moment in four previous outings at Albert Park – a second-place finish in 2014 that was stripped after the race for Red Bull breaching the sport's fuel-flow regulations – was that his Sunday charge that year was set up by a brilliant Saturday qualifying lap in dreadful conditions, one that saw him qualify on the front row of a Formula One grid for the first time in second place.

In Friday's second practice session, with rivers of water running across the circuit after a mid-afternoon downpour, it was little surprise that Ricciardo was the first driver to emerge from the pits, huge rooster-tails of spray being sent skywards from his rear tyres as he slithered around the 5.3km layout as fast as he dare. It was only after the Australian had completed two timed laps that the rest of the field reluctantly followed him out, and it didn't take long for one of the sport's biggest names to be bitten by the slick surface, Mercedes' championship aspirant Nico Rosberg crashing five minutes later and missing the remainder of the 90-minute session.

Ricciardo is realistic enough to know that Friday's formbook could be ripped up if Melbourne's weather improves. Any conditions that replicate pre-season testing in Spain are likely to produce a race that has Mercedes and Ferrari fighting for victory, and the rest squabbling over the rest of the top 10 point-paying positions. But he's optimistic that Red Bull's new RB12 chassis is a step up on its predecessor, and that Red Bull figure to play a more prominent role this season compared to last, where the team failed to win a Grand Prix for the first time since 2008.

That promise might not pay dividends this weekend, but further down the track, Friday suggests Ricciardo figures to feature towards the front more than 2015, whatever the weather.